Offsite financial account onboarding

ABSTRACT

Offsite financial account onboarding is provided which creates a more streamlined process for a customer. The customer accesses a money services businesss business electronic system to request financial account setup. The onboarding system establishes account, access to a pooled custodial account managed by the money services businesss business based on preliminary identification (ID) data from the customer. With only preliminary ID data, account access limits are assigned which reduces the risk of fraud or criminal activity with the customer&#39;s account access. Because account access is established with just the preliminary ID data, the customer may fully obtain account access directly from a mobile device. The money services businesss business provides additional graduated access levels depending on additional ID data provided by the customer. Thus, depending on the type of ID data provided by the customer, the customer&#39;s account access will have corresponding access level rights to the custodial account.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, claims priority to and thebenefit of, U.S. Ser. No. 12/986,958 filed Jan. 7, 2011 and entitled“OFFSITE FINANCIAL ACCOUNT ONBOARDING,” which is hereby incorporated inits entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates, in general, to offsite financialtransactions and, more particularly, to offsite financial accountonboarding.

BACKGROUND

In the banking industry, setting up bank accounts is one of theprerequisites to becoming accessible to the financial world. As computertechnologies have advanced, more and more banking and financialtransactions have begun to occur offsite from the banking institution,such as direct deposit, online banking, and the like. Online bankingfrom a personal computer (PC) allows customers to manage bank accounts,pay bills, invest money, and the like, from anywhere the customer hasaccess to his or her computer and a network connection. One of the lasttransactions that involved individuals physically entering a bankinginstitution was for opening accounts.

The financial industry is a highly-regulated industry having both stateand federal regulations for conducting various financial services.Portions of these regulations are meant to deal with fraud or criminaltransactions, such as money laundering. Banking regulations requireinstitutions to gather and verify a certain amount of identificationinformation before opening a financial account for an individual. Forexample, current regulations pertaining to banks for non-federallyregulated banks require the bank to obtain at least a name, date ofbirth, address, and an identification number, such as a social securitynumber, a tax identification number, a passport number, or the like.Moreover, the bank must verify all of this information within a certainperiod of time after opening the account. While this regulated processis useful in preventing money laundering, fraud, and the like, itcreates impediments to a streamlined account opening process (referredto as “onboarding”) that customers would like for convenience banking,such as online or mobile banking.

With the increase in online and mobile banking, financial institutionshave begun to offer offsite onboarding or online/mobile accountcreation. However, because of the regulatory requirements, it is stillvery difficult to achieve a fully online or streamline onboardingprocess. Some offsite onboarding features begin the onboarding processonline by accepting identity information entered by the customer. Beforethe account is opened, however, the financial institution may sendphysical letters to the customer with verification data containedtherein for the customer to again access the financial institutiononline to enter this verification data. This process may includemultiple such physical letters mailed to the customer for theverification process. Therefore, while the customer is afforded theconvenience of beginning the onboarding process online from a PC ormobile device, the entire process takes a number of days to completeuntil the account is actually opened and accessible.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The various aspects of the present disclosure are directed to offsitefinancial account onboarding. The disclosed process embodiments allow amore streamlined experience from the point of view of the mobileaccessing customer. The customer accesses a money services businesssbusiness electronic system to request financial account setup. Theonboarding system establishes account access to a pooled custodialaccount managed by the money services businesss business based onpreliminary identification (ID) data from the customer. With onlypreliminary ID data, account access limits are assigned which reduce therisk of fraud or criminal activity with the customer's account access.Because account access is established with just the preliminary ID data,the customer may fully obtain account access directly from a mobiledevice. The money services businesss business provides additionalgraduated access levels depending on additional ID data provided by thecustomer. Thus, depending on the type and reliability of ID dataprovided by the customer, the customer's account access will have acorresponding level of access rights to the custodial account.

Representative embodiments of the present disclosure are directed tomethods to open financial account access from an offsite location. Thesemethods include receiving an electronic request from a customer at theoffsite location to open a financial account, requesting preliminary IDinformation from the customer, receiving the preliminary ID informationelectronically from the offsite location, and, in response to thereceiving, establishing immediate customer access to a pooled custodialaccount maintained by a money services businesss business, The methodsalso include setting access limits to the pooled custodial account forthe customer based on the preliminary ID information.

Further representative embodiments of the present disclosure aredirected to computer program products to open financial account accessfrom an offsite location. The computer program products includecomputer-readable media having program code recorded thereon. Theprogram code includes code to receive an electronic request from acustomer at the offsite location to open a financial account, code torequest preliminary ID information from the customer, code to receivethe preliminary ID information electronically from the offsite location,code, executable in response to the receiving, to establish immediatecustomer access to a pooled custodial account maintained by a moneyservices businesss business, and code to set access limits to the pooledcustodial account for the customer based on the preliminary IDinformation.

Further representative embodiments of the present disclosure aredirected to financial institution servers configured to open financialaccount access from an offsite location. These financial institutionservers include at least one processor, a memory coupled to theprocessor, and an offsite onboarding application stored in the memory.When executed by the processor, the executing offsite onboardingapplication configures the financial institution servers to receive anelectronic request from a customer at the offsite location to open afinancial account, to request preliminary ID information from thecustomer, to receive the preliminary ID information electronically fromthe offsite location, to establish immediate customer access to a pooledcustodial account maintained by a money services businesss business inresponse to the receiving, and to set access limits to the pooledcustodial account for the customer based on the preliminary IDinformation.

Further representative embodiments of the present disclosure aredirected to methods to open financial account access from an offsitelocation. These methods include receiving ID information electronicallyfrom a customer at the offsite location, immediately establishingcustomer access to a pooled custodial account in response to thereceiving the ID information, analyzing a reliability of the IDinformation concurrently with the establishing of customer access, andassigning an access restriction level associated with the customer basedon the analyzed reliability of the ID information.

Further representative embodiments of the present disclosure aredirected to computer program products to open financial account accessfrom an offsite location. These computer program products includecomputer-readable media having program code recorded thereon. Theprogram code includes code to receive ID information electronically froma customer at the offsite location, code to immediately establishcustomer access to a pooled custodial account in response to receivingthe ID information, code to analyze a reliability of the ID informationconcurrently with the establishment of customer access, and code toassign an access restriction level associated with the customer based onthe analyzed reliability of the ID information.

Further representative embodiments of the present disclosure aredirected to financial institution servers configured to open financialaccount access from an offsite location. These financial institutionservers include at least one processor, a memory coupled to theprocessor, and an offsite onboarding application stored in the memory.When executed by the processor, the executing offsite onboardingapplication configures the financial institution server to receive IDinformation electronically from a customer at the offsite location, toimmediately establish customer access to a pooled custodial account inresponse to receiving the ID information, to analyze a reliability ofthe ID information concurrently with the establishment of customeraccess, and to assign an access restriction level associated with thecustomer based on the analyzed reliability of the ID information.

Further representative embodiments of the present disclosure aredirected to methods to open financial account access from a mobiledevice. These methods include transmitting a request to a money servicesbusinesss business to open a financial account, displaying a prompt fromthe money services businesss business for preliminary ID data,transmitting the preliminary ID data entered by a customer at the mobiledevice, receiving an acknowledgement from the money services businesssbusiness after transmission of the preliminary ID data that financialaccount access has been established with the money services businesssbusiness, and receiving account access limits from the money servicesbusinesss business, wherein the account access limits correspond to thepreliminary ID data.

Further representative embodiments of the present disclosure aredirected to computer program products to open financial account accessfrom an offsite location. The computer program products includecomputer-readable media having program code recorded thereon. Theprogram code includes code to transmit a request to a money servicesbusinesss business to open a financial account, code to display a promptfrom the money services businesss business for preliminary ID data, codeto transmit the preliminary ID data entered by a customer at the mobiledevice, code to receive an acknowledgement from the money servicesbusinesss business after transmission of the preliminary ID data thatfinancial account access has been established with the money servicesbusinesss business, and code to receive account access limits from themoney services businesss business, wherein the account access limitscorrespond to the preliminary ID data.

Further representative embodiments of the present disclosure aredirected to mobile devices configured to open financial account accessfrom an offsite location. These mobile devices include at least oneprocessor, a memory coupled to the processor, and a banking applicationstored in the memory. When executed by the processor, the executingbanking application configures the mobile device to transmit a requestto a money services businesss business to open a financial account, todisplay a prompt from the money services businesss business forpreliminary ID data, to transmit the preliminary ID data entered by acustomer at the mobile device, to receive an acknowledgement from themoney services businesss business after transmission of the preliminaryID data that financial account access has been established with themoney services businesss business, and to receive account access limitsfrom the money services businesss business, Wherein the account accesslimits correspond to the preliminary ID data.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technicaladvantages of the present disclosure in order that the detaileddescription that follows may be better understood. Additional featuresand advantages will be described hereinafter which form the subject ofthe claims of this disclosure. It should be appreciated by those skilledin the art that the conception and specific embodiment disclosed may bereadily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structuresfor carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. It shouldalso be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalentconstructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the disclosureas set forth in the appended claims. The novel features which arebelieved to be characteristic of the present disclosure, both as to itsorganization and method of operation, together with further objects andadvantages will be better understood from the following description whenconsidered in connection with the accompanying figures. It is to beexpressly understood, however, that each of the figures is provided forthe purpose of illustration and description only and is not intended asa definition of the limits of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present teachings, reference isnow made to the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 a conceptual block diagram is shown illustrating an offsitefinancial system configured according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are a functional block diagrams illustrating additionalexample blocks executed to implement one embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3 is a communication flow diagram illustrating an offsiteonboarding transaction conducted according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram illustrating example blocksexecuted to implement one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram illustrating example blocksexecuted to implement one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual block diagram illustrating a mobile deviceconfigured for providing offsite account onboarding according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates exemplary computer system which may be employed toimplement the various aspects and embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the detailed description below, numerous specific details are setforth to provide a thorough understanding of claimed subject matter.However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that claimedsubject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In otherinstances, methods, apparatuses or systems that would be known by one ofordinary skill have not been described in detail so as not to obscureclaimed subject matter. Some portions of the detailed description may bepresented in terms of algorithms or symbolic representations ofoperations on data bits or binary digital signals stored within acomputing system memory, such as a computer memory. These algorithmicdescriptions or representations are examples of techniques used by thoseof ordinary skill in the art to convey the substance of their work toothers skilled in the art.

An algorithm is here, and generally, considered to be a self-consistentsequence of operations or similar processing leading to a desiredresult. In this context, operations or processing involve physicalmanipulation of physical quantities. Typically, although notnecessarily, such physical quantities may take the form of electrical ormagnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined,compared or otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times,principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to such signals asbits, data, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers,numerals or the like. It should be understood, however, that all ofthese and similar terms are to be associated with appropriate physicalquantities and are merely convenient labels. Unless specifically statedotherwise, as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciatedthat throughout this specification discussions utilizing terms such as“processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining” or the like,refer to actions or processes of a computing platform, such as acomputer or a similar electronic computing device, that manipulates ortransforms data represented as physical electronic or magneticquantities within memories, registers, or other information storagedevices, transmission devices, or display devices of the computingplatform.

Turning now to FIG. 1, a conceptual block diagram is shown illustratingoffsite financial system 10 configured according to one embodiment ofthe present disclosure. Transactions occurring in offsite financialsystem 10 are conducted via internet 100. Financial institution server101, which may comprise a network of multiple computers and servers,manages and maintains various accounts and account information for themoney services businesss business or financial institution, as well asdirecting transactions involving such accounts. Customers may accessfinancial institution server 101 via internet 100 using various mobileor personal electronic devices, such as computer 102, smartphone 103,and mobile device 104. For example, financial institution server 101provides an online banking website (not shown) that computer 102,smartphone 103, and mobile device 104 may access using internet 100.Once access to the online banking website is achieved, customers mayconduct various financial business, including, as configured accordingto the present disclosure, opening a financial account with thefinancial institution.

The money services businesss business or financial institution offers anaccount available for streamlined offsite account setup or onboardingthat requires minimally intrusive identification data. The financialinstitution server 101 also includes an offsite onboarding application(not shown) which runs when customer's request accounts from offsitelocations. This application will be operated either through directcommunication with the financial institution server 101 or through thebanking website. A customer at computer 102 accesses the online bankingwebsite driven by financial institution server 101 and selects to openan account using the streamlined process. The web-based applicationrequests the customer to enter preliminary identification (ID)information. Preliminary ID information includes simple ID informationthat provides an indication of an accurate identification of thecustomer, but does not rise to the level of detailed verifiedinformation required by banking regulations to establish an individualaccount for the customer. Such information includes the customer name,email address, mailing address, a phone number, and the like. Theoffsite onboarding process accepts and stores this preliminary IDinformation and opens account access for the customer at computer 102.In addition to the preliminary ID information the customer will providesome kind of personal identification number (PIN) that will be used tosecure the customer's account access.

The offsite onboarding process opens account access for the customer,but not an actual account. Because the preliminary ID information doesnot rise to the level required by banking regulations to establish anindividual account for the customer, the financial institution would beprohibited from opening such an individual account. However, thefinancial institution provides account-type services to the customer byproviding the customer account access to pooled custodial account 106maintained by the money services businesss business or financialinstitution. Since the owner of this account is the financialinstitution, the banking regulations are met. The money servicesbusinesss business or financial institution will, therefore, provideonly monetary services to the customer through an established accountaccess associated with that customer. Customer-associated access areas107-110 represent conceptual sub-accounts within pooled custodialaccount 106 for which the financial institution tracks and manages anyfunds or transactions for the associated customer.

Because fraud, money laundering, terrorist activity, and the like arestill concerns of the money services businesss business or financialinstitution, multiple different access levels are defined for thecustomers based on the level of identification information provided. Assuch, each of customer-associated access areas 107-110 are defined atone of these several access levels according to the level ofidentification information that the associated customer provided. Theinformation that allows the money services businesss business orfinancial institution to differentiate between each ofcustomer-associated access areas 107-110 and the particular accesslevels that each is set at is maintained in account registry 111 onfinancial institution server 101. In the described example, in which thecustomer at computer 102 provides only preliminary ID data forestablishing account access, a minimum level of access is granted. Forpurposes of the described example, customer-associated access area 110corresponds to the account access granted to the customer at computer102. At the minimum level of access defined with respect to the exampledescribed in this FIG. 1, the money services businesss business orfinancial institution only allows the customer to receive a limitedamount of money into customer-associated access area 110, within pooledcustodial account 106, every month. The financial institution does notallow the customer to send any money from the account in order tomaintain a certain level of fraud safety for this minimally createdaccess type.

If the customer at computer 102 desires to transfer money fromcustomer-associated access area 110, the offsite onboarding process willcheck the restrictions associated with customer-associated access area110 in account registry 111 and, when it is discovered thatcustomer-associated access area 110 is not set to a high enough level totransfer money, the offsite onboarding process will prompt the customereither for additional information, which increases the reliability ofcustomer identification, or for payment card information. A payment cardis any type of representative payment indicia including credit cards,debit cards, fixed-monetary cards, such as gift cards, or the like. Ifthe customer selects not to enter the additional information, but,instead, provides payment card information, the money transferred fromcustomer-associated access area 110 will originate from a charge to thepayment card by the financial institution. In this situation, again, nobanking regulations have been triggered that forces the money servicesbusinesss business or financial institution to obtain more verified IDdata because the money transfer from customer-associated access area 110is simply characterized as a payment card transaction. When thetransaction is complete, financial institution server 101 saves thepayment card information associated with the customer andcustomer-associated access area 110 as additional ID information thatmay be used to increase the reliability of the customer's identity.

In addition to online banking based on banking websites, offsitefinancial system 10 is also accessible using mobile applicationsdesigned for various mobile devices, such as smartphone 103 and mobiledevice 104. Smartphone 103 and mobile device 104 access an applicationrepository on mobile commerce server 105 and download a mobile bankingapplication associated with offsite financial system 10. For example,when installed on and operating on mobile device 104, the mobile bankingapplication generates a user interface on mobile device 104 andestablishes a communication link with financial institution server 101via internet 100. The link to internet 100 may be implemented by anynumber of different wireless communication protocols, including longrange wireless, such as the various cellular systems, or short rangewireless, such as Wi-Fi Aliance's WIFI®, Bluetooth Special InterestGroup's BLUETOOTH, or the like, or some combination thereof.

Once the link with financial institution server 101 is established, thecustomer at mobile device 104 may execute the account onboarding processby entering his or her preliminary ID information. Based on thisinformation, financial institution server 101 creates a newcustomer-associated access area, for example customer-associated accessarea 109, and assigns the minimum access level to the new accountaccess. This assignment data is stored in account registry 111 formaintenance and management of each of customer-associated access areas107-110 within pooled custodial account 106. Thus, the customer atmobile device 104 is able to completely establish account accessdirectly from mobile device 104 without first being required to setup anaccount via the customer's home computer (not shown) or through somecombination of electronic communication and non-electroniccommunication.

FIG. 2A is a functional block diagram illustrating example blocksexecuted to implement one embodiment of the present disclosure. In block200, a money services businesss business receives an account requestfrom a potential customer. In block 201, the money services businesssbusiness prompts the customer for preliminary ID data, such as name,email address, mailing address, phone number, and the like. Thepreliminary ID data is received, in block 202, from the customer. Themoney services businesss business establishes user access, in block 203,to a pooled custodial account owned by the money services businesssbusiness. In block 204, user access limits are set for the user accessbased on the preliminary ID data.

Because the preliminary ID data generally reflects a lower degree ofreliability than the verified information required by the bankingregulations, the account access restrictions set for accounts openedwith only preliminary ID data often prohibit the customer from sendingor transmitting money from the established account access. However,customers may still send or transmit money using payment cards, when thecustomer does not desire to submit the additional information. FIG. 2Bis a functional block diagram illustrating additional example blocksexecuted to implement one embodiment of the present disclosure. Onceaccount access is established using the preliminary ID data from blocks203 and 204 (FIG. 2A), the customer may still arrange for money to besent from the account access even though the access level is set belowthe level that normally allows sending money. In block 205, the moneyservices businesss business receives a request from the customer to sendmonetary value to a third part. If no additional ID data is to be given,the money services businesss business prompts the user, in block 206,for payment card information, such as a credit or debit card, gift card,or the like. In block 207, the money services businesss businessprocesses the payment card for the designated monetary value and placesthe monetary value into the pooled custodial account. The monetary valueis then transmitted, in block 208, from the pooled custodial account tothe third party designated by the customer. The money services businesssbusiness then saves the payment card information, in block 209, whichmay be used for future additional ID data associated with the customer.

According to the example functionality described in FIGS. 2A and 2B, acustomer was able to establish account-type services with a moneyservices businesss business without being required to provide the amountof verifiable ID information that regulations would normally require forestablishing an individual account at a financial institution. Thecustomer was able to both open and conduct business from the accountaccess fully using an offsite process, whether using a PC accessing anonline banking website of the financial institution or using a mobiledevice operating a banking application associated with the financialinstitution. Moreover, because of the limitations placed on the accountaccess, the fraud and criminal risks remain relatively low.

FIG. 3 is a communication flow diagram illustrating offsite onboardingtransaction 30 conducted according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure. User 300 uses a PC or mobile device to interact with moneyservices business 301 in offsite onboarding transaction 30. Moneyservices business 301 maintains pooled custodial account 302 whichincludes multiple types of account access levels for multiple users,including user 300. The specific type or level of account access grantedto a user is tied to the level of ID information provided by the user tomoney services business 301. At 303, user 300 transmits an accountrequest to money services business 301. In response, money servicesbusiness 301 requests user 300 to provide preliminary ID information at304. User 300, at 305, submits his or her preliminary ID information tomoney services business 301. Based on this preliminary ID information,money services business 301, at 306, immediately establishes accountaccess for user 300 at a Level 1. The new Level 1 account isacknowledged at 307, after which, at 308, money services business 301notifies user 300 of the account access set up.

At 309, user 300 submits a Level 1 service request to money servicesbusiness 301. Money services business 301 initiates and completes therequested Level 1 service at 310 and 311, and acknowledges thecompletion of the Level 1 service to user 300 at 312. At 313, user 300submits a Level 3 service request to money services business 301. ALevel 3 service may include sending a higher amount of monetary value toa third party or receiving a higher monetary value into custodialaccount 302 associated with user 300. The higher monetary valuesincrease the risk of fraud or criminal activity. Money services business301 recognizes the Level 3 request and, after checking the service levelassociated with the account access of user 300, at 314, requests user300 to submit additional Level 3 ID information. Level 3 ID informationmay include more verifiable or reliable ID information such as a socialsecurity number, bank account, a linked credit/debit card, linked bankaccount, or the like, or any combination thereof. This additional IDinformation allows money services business 301 to more reliably verifythe identity of user 300. A Level 3 service may trigger the datarequirements of banking regulations, which would also require moneyservices business 301 to collect and verify the additional ID data. At315, user 300 submits Level 3 ID data to money services business 301,which, when validated or verified, prompts money services business 301to, at 316 and 317, increase the account access of user 300 to a Level3. At 318, money services business 301 notifies user 300 that his or heraccount access has been granted to Level 3. Money services business 301initiates and completes the Level 3 service, at 319 and 320, and thennotifies user 300 of the completion of the Level 3 service at 321.

According to the additional functionality as described with respect toFIG. 3, user 300 is first allowed to establish account access to pooledcustodial account 302 through a less onerous preliminary ID information.This information can be entered directly by user 300 through PC accessto an online banking website or directly into a banking applicationoperating on a mobile device. Only when user 300 requests a higher levelof service is the additional ID information requested. The overall levelof access allowed to pooled custodial account 302 is graduated based onthe level of ID information supplied by user 300. The more reliable theID information, the higher level of access money services business 301provides.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram illustrating example blocksexecuted to implement one embodiment of the present disclosure. In block400, a money services business receives a request from a customer toopen account-type services. The money services business requests thecustomer, in block 401, for ID data. ID data is received, in block 402,from the customer. A determination is made, in block 403, whether the IDdata received from the customer is sufficient to qualify for high levelaccount access to a pooled custodial account of the money servicesbusiness. If so, then, in block 404, the data is verified, and accountaccess is set up to the high level, in block 405. If the ID data is notsufficient to qualify for high level account access, then, in block 406,another determination is made whether the ID data is sufficient toqualify for medium level account access to the custodial account. If so,then, in block 407, account access is set up to the medium level. If theID data is not sufficient to qualify for the medium level accountaccess, then, in block 408, a determination is made whether the ID datais sufficient to qualify for the minimum level of access to thecustodial account. If not, then, the process repeats with the customerbeing requested for additional ID data at block 401. If, however, thedata is sufficient to qualify for the minimum level access, then, inblock 409, account access is set up to the minimum level. After accountaccess is set up in any of blocks 405, 407, or 409, then, in block 410,the customer is notified of the account access setup and correspondingaccess level.

Once account access has been set up, service requests from a customerare analyzed by the money services business owning and managing accountaccess to the pooled custodial account according to the particularaccess level associated with the customer. FIG. 5 is a functional blockdiagram illustrating example blocks executed to implement one embodimentof the present disclosure. In block 500, a transaction request isreceived from a customer with account access to a custodial account of amoney services business. A determination is made, in block 501, whetherthe requested transaction falls within the limitations associated withthe access level of the customer. If so, then, in block 502, the moneyservices business performs the requested transaction. If not, then, inblock 503, additional ID data is requested from the customer. The moneyservices business receives additional ID data from the customer, inblock 504, and, in block 505, a determination is made whether thereceived additional ID data is sufficient to increase the access levelof the customer. If not, then, the process repeats with still moreadditional ID data requested from the customer in block 503. If so,then, in block 506, the access level of the customer is increasedaccording to the additional ID data. The analysis process then repeatsfrom block 501 with a determination of whether the requested transactionfalls within the limitations associated with the new access level. Thistransaction request process will repeat until either the customerprovides sufficient additional ID data to support an access levelcapable of performing the requested transaction or the customerwithdraws the transaction request or the money services business deniesthe request.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual block diagram illustrating mobile device 601configured for providing offsite account onboarding according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure. Mobile device 601 may be anynumber of different mobile devices, such as smartphones, mobile phones,personal data assistants (PDAs), interactive media players, and thelike. Mobile device 601 includes processor 602 which drives thefunctionality of the device. Processor 602 executes applications andcode stored in memory 603 and controls the functionalities throughnetwork interface 604, display 605, user interface feature 606, and thelike. In order to access offsite account onboarding, the user of mobiledevice 601 accesses an application store provided on electronic commerceserver 607 via network 600 and downloads banking application 608 tomemory 603.

When executed by processor 602, banking application 608 provides agraphical user interface on display 605 with user input/outfunctionality from user interface feature 606. Banking application 608also establishes a communication link with financial institution server609 via internet 600. A user of mobile device 601 can establish accountaccess to custodial account 610 on financial institution server 609simply by interacting with the onboarding feature of banking application608. The user provides preliminary ID information to financialinstitution server 609. Based on this preliminary ID information,financial institution server 609 establishes customer account accessarea 611 within custodial account 610. Financial institution server 609also assigns an access level to customer account access area 611 that iscommensurate with the preliminary ID information. With preliminary IDinformation, the access level assigned will be very low, but the userwill still have an established account access without providing theamount of information normally required by banking regulations forestablishing an individual account. Financial institution server 609then records the association between the user, customer account accessarea 611, and the access level assigned in account access records 612.When receiving transaction requests from the user of mobile device 601or any other user, it will access account access records 612 todetermine whether the requested transaction request falls within thelimitations associated with the assigned access level.

Embodiments, or portions thereof, may be embodied in program or codesegments operable upon a processor-based system (e.g., computer systemor computing platform) for performing functions and operations asdescribed herein. The program or code segments making up the variousembodiments may be stored in a computer-readable medium, which maycomprise any suitable medium for temporarily or permanently storing suchcode. Examples of the computer-readable medium include such tangiblecomputer-readable media as an electronic memory circuit, a semiconductormemory device, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM),erasable ROM (EROM), flash memory, a magnetic storage device (e.g.,floppy diskette), optical storage device (e.g., compact disk (CD),digital versatile disk (DVD), etc.), a hard disk, and the like.

Embodiments, or portions thereof, may be embodied in a computer datasignal, which may be in any suitable form for communication over atransmission medium such that it is readable for execution by afunctional device (e.g., processor) for performing the operationsdescribed herein. The computer data signal may include any binarydigital electronic signal that can propagate over a transmission mediumsuch as electronic network channels, optical fibers, air,electromagnetic media, radio frequency (RF) links, and the like, andthus the data signal may be in the form of an electrical signal, opticalsignal, radio frequency or other wireless communication signal, etc. Thecode segments may, in certain embodiments, be downloaded via computernetworks such as the Internet, an intranet, a local area network (LAN),a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), the publicswitched telephone network (PSTN), a satellite communication system, acable transmission system, cell phone data/voice networks, and/or thelike.

FIG. 7 illustrates exemplary computer system 700 which may be employedto implement the various aspects and embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Central processing unit (“CPU” or “processor”) 701 iscoupled to system bus 702. CPU 701 may be any general-purpose processor.The present disclosure is not restricted by the architecture of CPU 701(or other components of exemplary system 700) as long as CPU 701 (andother components of system 700) supports the inventive operations asdescribed herein. As such CPU 701 may provide processing to system 700through one or more processors or processor cores. CPU 701 may executethe various logical instructions described herein. For example, CPU 701may execute machine-level instructions according to the exemplaryoperational flow described above in conjunction with FIGS. 2A-5 and anyof the other processes described with respect to illustratedembodiments. When executing instructions representative of theoperational steps illustrated in FIGS. 2A-5 and any of the otherprocesses described with respect to illustrated embodiments, CPU 701becomes a special-purpose processor of a special purpose computingplatform configured specifically to operate according to the variousembodiments of the teachings described herein.

Computer system 700 also includes random access memory (RAM) 703, whichmay be SRAM, DRAM, SDRAM, or the like. Computer system 700 includesread-only memory (ROM) 704 which may be PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, or thelike. RAM 703 and ROM 704 hold user and system data and programs, as iswell known in the art.

Computer system 700 also includes input/output (I/O) adapter 705,communications adapter 711, user interface adapter 708, and displayadapter 709. I/O adapter 705, user interface adapter 708, and/orcommunications adapter 711 may, in certain embodiments, enable a user tointeract with computer system 700 in order to input information.

I/O adapter 705 connects to storage device(s) 706, such as one or moreof hard drive, compact disc (CD) drive, floppy disk drive, tape drive,etc., to computer system 700. The storage devices are utilized inaddition to RAM 703 for the memory requirements of the variousembodiments of the present disclosure. Communications adapter 711 isadapted to couple computer system 700 to network 712, which may enableinformation to be input to and/or output from system 700 via suchnetwork 712 (e.g., the Internet or other wide-area network, a local-areanetwork, a public or private switched telephony network, a wirelessnetwork, any combination of the foregoing). User interface adapter 708couples user input devices, such as keyboard 713, pointing device 707,and microphone 714 and/or output devices, such as speaker(s) 715 tocomputer system 700. Display adapter 709 is driven by CPU 701 and/or bygraphical processing unit (CPU) 716 to control the display on displaydevice 710 to, for example, present the results of the simulation. CPU716 may be any various number of processors dedicated to graphicsprocessing and, as illustrated, may be made up of one or more individualgraphical processors. CPU 716 processes the graphical instructions andtransmits those instructions to display adapter 709. Display adapter 709further transmits those instructions for transforming or manipulatingthe state of the various numbers of pixels used by display device 710 tovisually present the desired information to a user. Such instructionsinclude instructions for changing state from on to off, setting aparticular color, intensity, duration, or the like. Each suchinstruction makes up the rendering instructions that control how andwhat is displayed on display device 710.

It shall be appreciated that the present disclosure is not limited tothe architecture of system 700. For example, any suitableprocessor-based device or multiple such devices may be utilized forimplementing the various embodiments of the present disclosure,including without limitation personal computers, laptop computers,computer workstations, multi-processor servers, and even mobiletelephones. Moreover, certain embodiments may be implemented onapplication specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or very large scaleintegrated (VLSI) circuits. In fact, persons of ordinary skill in theart may utilize any number of suitable structures capable of executinglogical operations according to the embodiments.

Although the present teachings and their advantages have been describedin detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutionsand alterations can be made herein without departing from the technologyof the teachings as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the scopeof the present application is not intended to be limited to theparticular aspects of the process, machine, manufacture, composition ofmatter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. As oneof ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from thedisclosure, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter,means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developedthat perform substantially the same function or achieve substantiallythe same result as the corresponding aspects described herein may beutilized according to the present teachings. Accordingly, the appendedclaims are intended to include within their scope such processes,machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.

1. A method comprising: creating, by a financial transaction computer, acustomer access area for a customer in a pooled custodial account; andassociating, by the computer, the customer access area with accesslimits, wherein the access limits are associated with an access level tothe pooled custodial account, and wherein preliminary ID information isused to determine the access level for the customer.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising, in response to a monetary transfer requestexceeding the access limits, requesting payment information from thecustomer.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving thepayment information from the Customer.
 4. The method of claim 3, furthercomprising processing the payment information for an amount of themonetary transfer request.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprisingtransferring the amount to the third party.
 6. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving, from the customer, a financial servicerequest; determining whether the financial service request falls withinthe access limits; in response to the financial service requestexceeding the access limits; requesting the customer for additional IDinformation; receiving the additional ID information from the customer;determining whether the additional ID information supports an increasedaccess level to the pooled custodial account; in response to theadditional ID information supporting the increased access level,associating the customer access area with the increased access level;and in response to the financial service request falling withinincreased access limits associated with the increased access level,performing the financial service request from the pooled custodialaccount.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by thecomputer, an electronic request from a customer at an offsite locationto open a financial account.
 8. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising requesting, by the computer, preliminary identification (ID)information from the customer.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising analyzing, by the computer, the preliminary ID information todetermine an access level for the customer to the pooled custodialaccount.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing, by thecomputer, a reliability of the preliminary ID information.
 11. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising determining the access level basedupon a reliability of the preliminary ID information.
 12. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the pooled custodial account is maintained by a moneyservices business.
 13. An article of manufacture including anon-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium havinginstructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by afinancial transaction computer-based system, cause the computer-basedsystem to be capable of performing operations comprising: creating, bythe computer-based system, a customer access area for a customer in apooled custodial account; and associating, by the computer-based system,the customer access area with access limits, wherein the access limitsare associated with an access level to the pooled custodial account, andwherein preliminary ID information is used to determine the access levelfor the customer.
 14. A system comprising: a financial transactionprocessor, a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicatewith the processor, the tangible, non-transitory memory havinginstructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by theprocessor, cause the processor to be capable of performing operationscomprising: creating, by the processor, a customer access area for acustomer in a pooled custodial account; and associating, by theprocessor, the customer access area with access limits, wherein theaccess limits are associated with an access level to the pooledcustodial account, and wherein preliminary ID information is used todetermine the access level for the customer.
 15. The system of claim 14,further comprising, in response to a monetary transfer request exceedingthe access limits, requesting payment information from the customer. 16.The system of claim 14, further comprising: receiving, from thecustomer, a financial service request; determining whether the financialservice request falls within the access limits; in response to thefinancial service request exceeding the access limits; requesting thecustomer for additional ID information; receiving the additional IDinformation from the customer; determining whether the additional IDinformation supports an increased access level to the pooled custodialaccount; in response to the additional ID information supporting theincreased access level, associating the customer access area with theincreased access level; and in response to the financial service requestfalling within increased access limits associated with the increasedaccess level, performing the financial service request from the pooledcustodial account.
 17. The system of claim 14, further comprisingreceiving, by the processor, an electronic request from a customer at anoffsite location to open a financial account.
 18. The system of claim14, further comprising requesting, by the processor, preliminaryidentification (ID) information from the customer.
 19. The system ofclaim 14, further comprising analyzing, by the processor, thepreliminary ID information to determine an access level for the customerto the pooled custodial account.
 20. The system of claim 14, furthercomprising determining the access level based upon a reliability of thepreliminary ID information.